By Dr. Corinne Taylor-Smith | Project Leader
We read and hear so much in the media about Global Warming and when we are midst a cold snap it seems so far away. Tigers4Ever has been giving India’s wild Tigers a wild future since June 2010 and in that time we have witnessed shorter drier monsoon seasons and longer hotter drought seasons. Both of which seem to be the new norm! So it was quite a surprise this year to learn from our patrolling team that it rained on every day of May except 3 this year! Not the light pre-monsoonal showers sometimes associated with pre-monsoon rains which fall in early to mid-June, but torrential thunderstorms which felled trees and flooded roads and tracks! What was more concerning is that our brave anti-poaching patrollers went out equipped for work in blazing sun and 45°C (113°F) heat, and the rainfall made the temperatures much cooler but the high humidity made conditions quite unbearable too! This presented many clothing challenges as temperature variances and soaking wet uniforms can make patrol duties difficult during the day and the night.
Without your kind donations over the last three months more than 300 brave men and women, tiger protectors, would have struggled to perform their daily tasks without the essential equipment they needed. Thank you, your incredible support is amazing. Your generosity continues to help us to equip these brave men and women to cope in all manner of weather conditions and with the challenges that the terrain, the miscreants and the wildlife throw at them. As regular readers of our project reports will know we have struggled to keep pace with the rate at which renewal and replacement of vital kit has been needed over the last four and a half years, let alone attempt to equip the patrolling teams with better more reliable equipment.
To guarantee that Tigers4Ever can continue to be sustainable and ensure that those living alongside wild tigers have a reason to keep them safe we continue to support the local economy when purchasing clothing and equipment for the brave patrollers as this gives the locals employment and a vested interest in wild tiger conservation too.
Uniforms, Sturdy Boots and Powerful Waterproof Flashlights
Your amazing support helped us to provide full uniforms and sturdy boots for 130 brave patrollers in May, meaning that every patroller now has at least one full uniform and sturdy boots to enable them to complete their work. Thank you. Your generosity also helped us to provide powerful waterproof flashlights for another 200 brave anti-poaching patrollers to help them to stay out on patrol at night and when torrential rains and dark skies make daytime patrols seem like nights. Thank you, we couldn’t have achieved it without your amazing support.
Over the last two years you have helped us to ensure that 904 brave men and women anti-poaching patrollers have a warm winter jacket, AND to provide full uniforms and sturdy boots for 650 brave patrollers who didn’t have them at all. Thank you again on behalf of them all.
More Flashlights, Mosquito Nets and Waterproof Clothing are needed Urgently
As you can imagine from the numbers above, some of the 1005+ brave patrollers are still without warm winter jackets, powerful waterproof flashlights and other essential equipment. In addition, we recently learnt that more than 200 sets of waterproof clothing have been snagged beyond repair as forest patrollers walk through dense undergrowth looking for poacher’s snares. These need to be replaced as a matter of urgency but to do this we need to raise £2550 ($3000) to cover the cost. We have also received a request to provide 600 treated mosquito nets as patrollers are at risk of being bitten by malaria carrying mosquitoes whilst sleeping in the patrol camps between shifts. Thankfully, your kind donations over the last three months have enabled us to cover this cost and we have placed the order this week so the nets should be ready for issue to the brave patrollers soon.
We also know that at least 100 more powerful waterproof flashlights are needed (550 patrollers still don’t have one) to cope with the darkness and gloom of the daytime forest in the monsoon season, in addition 6o the nighttime patrols. Again, we need to raise more funds before we can provide these with a further £1650 ($2250) needed. We still aim to replenish and replace worn out essential equipment and provide the new equipment that modern day anti-poaching patrollers need, but we have some way to go before we can do this as many patrollers still lack the basics needed. We hope, with your help, we can ensure that every patroller has a warm winter jacket before the end of 2025. If we can do this together t would be truly amazing.
It is a huge task, as some of the equipment which still needs replacing is over 13 years old. Your amazing support has already helped us to provide 1005 essential waterproof clothing sets; 904 warm winter jackets; full uniforms and sturdy boots for 650 patrollers, 450 powerful flashlights and the snake rescue kits which save both human and animal lives. You have helped us to ensure that the brave anti-poaching patrollers in Bandhavgarh are better equipped to face their daily challenges than they were two years ago. This gives us the hope we need to raise sufficient funds to provide the essentials still needed.
Wearing a uniform is very important for the brave anti-poaching patrollers who keep wild tigers safe, it is more than just protection from their work environment, it distinguishes them from forest intruders and interlopers. In challenging situations, wearing the uniform helps the patrollers to command the authority and respect they need and deserve. When the patrollers lack proper uniforms and kit it frequently leads to their requests being ignored or disrespected by those encroaching into the forest or conducting illicit or illegal activities. The right equipment is fundamental to ensuring that these brave patrollers who risk their lives to keep wild tigers safe are protected whenever they are on foot (https://goto.gg/56553).
As the heavy monsoon rains are upon us for the next few months, our attention can be turned away from the remaining 101 warm winter jackets which will become urgently needed in the Autumn (Fall), with our current focus being on the waterproof clothing and year-round equipment needs. We will need to raise £2020 (US$2690) to cover the cost of the warm winter jackets later in the year, but hopefully we will be able to raise these funds after the summer monsoon season, if not before. (https://goto.gg/56553).
The equipment needs of our patrols are constantly changing as poachers and other miscreants deploy new techniques to avoid capture or discovery. Modern patrolling equipment needs to be lighter, more versatile and more durable than before. As a result, fundraising for new and replacement equipment is likely to be a long-term project going forward. At night, in pitch dark conditions, wooden canes, head torches and powerful flashlights are invaluable kit to provide reflections in the eyes of wild animals and of the metal from hidden snares and traps, and to provide a means of disarming those traps without losing a limb.
Patrolling is Always Dangerous
Our patrollers report back on the daily dangers they face, and after 10 years of patrolling, we regularly learn how the patrollers’ encounters with other humans are those which strike the greatest fear into them. Every patroller says the same, the most dangerous moment in the forest is when they encounter humans! Attacks on anti-poaching patrollers are sadly not uncommon. Our patrollers say humans are far more dangerous than the wild animals they protect because humans are unpredictable. They carry guns or other weapons and launch unprovoked attacks. They can react badly to being caught in the forest, and when they outnumber the patrolling team, they will frequently try all means to get away, including attacking/beating the patrollers who have discovered them. Sometimes, humans save their retaliation for later and may attack an off-duty patroller as they return home after a long shift in the forest. To counter these risks, we always try to ensure that a patrolling vehicle is close by, in case back up or rapid transfer to a medical facility is needed. Thankfully, attacks by wild animals on our patrolling team are rare and we adopt a safety in numbers approach to foot patrolling to reduce the risk of human attacks whilst on duty. We also ensure that all our patrollers are trained in forest safety techniques and how to react in dangerous situations too.
Human-Wildlife Conflict is Increasing
In the last 6 years, wild elephants have contributed to large increases in human-wildlife conflict as they travel hundreds of miles each day consuming 1 -2 tonnes of food each as they go. Some farmers lose entire rice and wheat crops in a single night when the elephants bulldoze their way into their fields. Crop losses leave families distraught and hungry, and some farmers have taken their own lives from the resulting despair. Finding solutions which keep the elephants safe and the farmers happy is not easy. Tigers4Ever has installed solar street lighting at the key entry points from the forest into 55 villages and critical patrolling camp locations to help protect the people including children sleeping in their homes, the schools from destruction and the livestock from nocturnal predators too. We have improved tolerance and reduced human-wildlife conflict, especially from tigers and leopards, by installing these measures, however, it would be impossible to put solar powered PIR sensitive lighting encircling every village against potential elephant attacks, so other methods are also needed. Where tiger and leopard intrusions and crop raiding by other herbivores are constant issues, we are looking to install further solar-powered PIR sensitive lighting at 15 more locations, subject to raising sufficient funding. Retaliatory poisoning is one of the most heartbreaking methods used in and around the villages to prevent wildlife intrusions and attacks as it has far-reaching and devastating consequences beyond the obvious. Something which has been painfully relived in recent months, in the last 10 years our anti-poaching patrols have fought really hard to eliminate the retaliatory poisoning of wild tigers because its indiscriminate consequences kill multiple tigers, jackals, hyenas and other scavengers, vultures, other birds and insects which feed on the poisoned carcass and the carcasses of those which ate the poison too! Our anti-poaching patrols will desperately need everything we can equip them with to fight this silent but most deadly killer!
What else are we doing to help?
Our anti-poaching patrols are quadrupled for the monsoon season and on high alert for signs of poisons around the edges of villages and near waterholes especially. Our patrolling range has increased twice in the last 6 months to give greater protection to dispersing sub-adult tigers. We have provided 25 permanent wildlife waterholes and are working hard to deliver 2 more. The Tigers4Ever waterholes now provide year-round water for more than 130 tigers and their cubs. Our work to create a new large wildlife waterhole in the Pachpedi-Birulhi buffer which will provide year-round water at a new location for wild tigers and their prey, was delayed following the elephant poisonings and the snaring of the alpha male wild tiger Chota Bheem in late 2024, however, work is now back on track and we hope to complete this soon. On completion, we hope to start work on another permanent wildlife waterhole in the Kithauli core zone.
We urgently need your help to provide 200 sets of waterproof clothing and 100 powerful waterproof flashlights so patrolling can continue at the optimum level. To equip these patrollers with waterproofs and a powerful flashlight, we need to raise another £4200 ($4850) so that the brave men and women who risk their lives each day to keep wild tigers safe can keep going in the challenging conditions ahead. Any help you can give will always be most welcome: https://goto.gg/56553. Even the smallest donation will be a huge help in these difficult times.
Making a Difference
Your continued support helps us to patrol an extra 1000 km (624 miles) of wild tiger territory per month; without essential equipment this may reduce as the monsoon rains take hold! It is vital to ensure sufficient time to search for snares; traps and signs of poisoners around forest areas where human encroachment is widespread; and around the periphery of villages where crop raiding and livestock killing is rife. Increased patrolling helps us to curb human encroachment into wild tigers’ territories and allows us to provide safety advice for those trying to protect their crops and livestock from wandering elephants and tigers respectively.
With more than 225 tigers to keep safe now, we need your help to ensure we can keep going. Your gift today, however large or small can make a huge difference as to whether Bandhavgarh’s wild tigers can survive the unprecedented threats they currently face:
Without our help, we know that more wild tigers will die; and more humans will be mauled or killed due to encroachment or human-tiger conflict. Sadly, with every human life lost comes another threat to the wild tiger’s survival in the form of retaliation; thus, we must protect both if we are to ensure that wild tigers can have a wild future.
Please don’t hesitate if you can help, your donation can be the difference between life and death for a wild tiger, as it helps to keep our patrolling going when it is most needed. Every tiger and every tiger cub counts. Thank you for making our fight against poachers, the changing climate and human-animal conflict possible. (https://goto.gg/56553).
May I take this opportunity to thank you again for your amazing support.
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